Enrollment cuts, tuition hikes and furloughs are just a few of the reasons why more than 1,000 University of California faculty members, employees and students will participate in a walkout today.
The walkout is in response to UC President Mark Yudof ‘s suggestion to raise tuition fees up 44 percent starting January.
The L.A. Times reported the arrest of 14 UC San Francisco Mission Bay students and faculty for trespassing and unlawful assembly during the last UC board of regents meeting.
UC fees are currently more than $26,000 after adding in campus housing, which many students utilize.
The group-the UC Community Coalition for Option 4-will be conducting the walkout in defense of three specific demands, reports UC Santa Barbara’s Daily Nexus.
Option 4 is calling for all faculty members with salaries under $40,000, to be exempt from furloughs and pay cuts. Secondly, they are asking that the 6-10 furlough days be allowed on instructional days or days that the furloughed professor’s class is in session. Finally, they are demanding that the current solutions being offered to the UC systems budget crisis be addressed in a different manner than the UC Office of President is proposing.
While I agree that the current fees and salary of the UC faculty staff is unacceptable, I think that the whole idea of a walk-out won’t push the UC system to make the necessary changes, instead it will only cause further criticism and a greater schism between the UC Regents and UC faculty under Option 4. The state needs more involvment in this situation, with direction from Gov. Arnold Schwartzenegger himself.
I also think that conducting a walkout on the first day of classes is ludicrous. We all know the first day of classes is designated to help new students with their classes and familiarize them with the campus. The absence of faculty members and upper classmen will only disorient new students.
Both the UC Regents and the UC faculty under Option 4 need to get on the same page in order to satisfy not just each other, but more important the individuals whom they work for, the students. There needs to be some sort of mediation between these two parties to reach an agreement that work for both sides, until then, nothing will be solved.
